After his master dies halfway through a jousting tournament in medieval France, peasant William Thatcher (Ledger) dons his suit of armour and drags begrudging pals Roland (Addy) and Wat (Alan Tudyk) across Europe towards victory. Writer-director Helgeland's ('L.A. Confidential', 'Payback') film displays a playful sense of humour with its anachronistic soundtrack featuring Queen, David Bowie and other 70s rockers, and amusing allusions to the World Cup. And unusually it also emphasises character interaction so that the working class heroes are aided by Laura Fraser's widow-turned-blacksmith and Bettany's scene-stealing gambler/poet 'Geoff' Chaucer.